Specific Purpose: Persuade my audience that gay marriage should be legal.
Central Idea: Marriage is a civil right that everyone should have.
Introduction
I. You do not have to agree with or even condone homosexuality, this speech is not about what goes on behind closed doors.
II. It’s about basic human equality, equal rights for all.
III. People of other races have fought for their rights to love and marry whomever they choose, and now the Gay Community faces the same battle.
IV. Until 1968 it was illegal for a Caucasian to marry an African-American.
V. As far as civil rights, we cannot forget that the first Africans brought to the United States were viewed as property.
a. It was a long fought battle for them to be treated as humans with the same rights as Caucasians .
b. After all that, the majority of the population of the United States does not see the correlation between the equal rights Dr. Martin Luther King fought for, and the rights that are being asked for today by millions of people in the gay community.
(Transition: In order to understand the mindset of that majority, let’s examine some of their arguments against gay marriage, and why they just don’t hold water)
Body
I. Marriage is an institution between one man and one woman.
a. This one is most often used, even codified in a recently passed US Federal law. This is easily one of the weakest arguments though, because Who says what marriage is, and who gets to define it? The married? The marriable? It is the equivalent of “Because I said so”
b. If the straight community cannot show a compelling reason to deny this right, it should not be denied.
II. Gay relationships are immoral.
a. Says who? The Bible? I guess I thought that “freedom of religion” also meant “freedom FROM religion”
b. The bible has absolutely no standing in American law, which was the intent of the First Amendment.
III. In Denmark, in 1989 same-sex marriages were made legal.
a. Of course, leading the opposition was the Danish clergy, in a poll 72% were against allowing gays to marry.
b. The same poll was taken again in 1995, just 6 years later, in which 89% of those same clergymen admit that the law is a good one, and has had many beneficial effects
i. Reduction in suicide
ii. Reduction in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases
iii. Reduction in promiscuity and infidelity among gays
IV. Denmark is not the only country to allow gays to marry.
a. The Netherlands, the U.K., Spain, most of Canada and even Argentina… yes, a so-called third world country is doing better than the US in the area of equality.
b. Maybe it’s time we catch up.
V. Marriages are for procreation and ensuring the continuation of the species.
a. If this is really the case, why are infertile couples allowed to marry?
b. How about once a woman hits menopause, she and her husband are required to turn in their wedding rings and sleep in separate bedrooms?
c. Again, such an argument fails to persuade based on the kinds of marriages society does allow routinely and based on why society really allows those marriages to continue- marriage is about love, sharing and commitment; procreation, when it comes right down to it, is purely a secondary function.
VI. Same-sex marriage would threaten the institution of marriage.
a. That is a huge contradiction: Threaten marriage? By allowing people to marry?
b. Seems that if you force a gay person to marry someone they are not compatible with, not attracted to, and cannot relate to sexually, it’s a divorce time-bomb waiting to go off. That is a threat to the institution of marriage.
c. Divorce, not marriage, threatens the institute of marriage.
VII. Marriage is traditionally a heterosexual institution.
a. This is morally the weakest argument: Slavery was also a traditional institution once.
b. By the 19th century, humanity had generally recognized the evils of that institution and has since made serious efforts to abolish it.
(Transition: I think it’s time for Americans to once again recognize their mistake and work to correct it. What are the mistakes? These are just some of the rights that 10 percent of our population is being denied today)
I. When gay people say that this is a civil rights issue, they are referring to civil justice, legal rights being afforded to straight couples everywhere, everyday, but denied to the gay community.
II. Now, as I describe these to you, I want you to imagine if these things applied to you, if your rights were affected this way.
III. One of these civil rights is the fact that in most states, gays cannot make medical decisions for their partners.
a. Hospitals are forced by state laws to refer to the families who may have been estranged from them for decades, who are often hostile towards them and can, and frequently do, totally ignore the wishes regarding the treatment of partners.
b. If a hostile family wishes to exclude the partner from the hospital room, they may legally do so in most states.
i. The equivalent of that is my family, if I were hospitalized after, say, a car accident.
ii. My parents refuse to allow the man I love and spend my life with, to even enter the room, much less make any decisions about my care.
iii. Doesn’t seem fair, does it? And yet it happens every day in the gay community.
IV. In cases of the death of one of the couple, even a very carefully drawn will, and power of attorney have not proven to be enough if a family wishes to challenge it.
a. Partners can be denied the right to attend a funeral for their loved one.
b. Imagine that: Your in-laws forbidding you to attend your husband’s funeral.
V. As survivors, estranged families can, in nearly all states, even seize real estate property that a gay couple may have been buying together and living in for many years, quickly sell it at the largest possible loss and stick the grieving partner with all the remaining mortgage obligations, leaving them out on the street, penniless, and alone.
i. Now, my in-laws do not really like me that much, but at least I am protected, by law, to keep them from doing that to me, if my husband were to pass away.
ii. Not so in the gay community, doesn’t seem fair, does it?
VI. Speaking of death, the other definite in our lives besides death, is taxes: this is another area where the gay community is being treated like second class citizens.
a. The number of tax breaks allowed to married couples is in the hundreds.
b. Because of this, gays are being taxed at a higher rate by a government who does not even view them as equals, how is this fair?
VII. If one partner is arrested, the other can be required to testify against them or provide evidence against them, something that legally married couples are not forced to do.
VIII. If one partner is jailed, visitation rights by the partner can, in most states, be denied on the whim of that hostile family and the cooperation of a homophobic judge.
(Transition: These are just a few examples of the basic civil rights being denied to the gay community, there are many, many more. Now that we have identified the people’s problems, and the problems with the laws, let’s think about the solution)
I. The solution is simple: We are talking about human beings who want the same rights as other human beings.
II. Many people are uncomfortable with this subject because they think too hard on the sexual aspect. Stop it. It’s not a sexual issue, it’s an issue of equal rights for ALL.
III. My biggest response to the anti-gays is this: Butt out. If it does not affect you, it’s none of your business.
IV. Why should you be bothered by gays being married? It does not nullify your marriage, it has no affect on you, so why do you care?
Conclusion
I. I spoke with my brother last week regarding this speech. He and his partner, Mark, have been together for 8 years, the average marriage in America last 9.6 years.
II. When asked if marriage were legal, how long would he and Mark have been married by now, his response was “Over 6 years”.
III. It’s time to stop the oppression of such a large number of Americans based on archaic religious beliefs that have no place in our system of government.
IV. I know our teacher hates clichés but this one is just too fitting not to use: Live and let live.
